[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 6 (Monday, February 15, 1999)]
[Pages 211-212]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Gala Honoring Hank Aaron in Atlanta, Georgia

February 5, 1999

    Thank you very much, Tom. I want to thank Ted and Jane and you, Tom, 
and Gerry Levin and all the people from CNN and Time Warner for your 
role in this magnificent evening--all the sponsors, all the previous 
speakers.
    You know, the truth is, I wanted to come down yesterday just to get 
ready for this. [Laughter] I saw the list of the baseball players who 
were going to be here. You know, my job is not always the most fun in 
the world. [Laughter] I was interested in this.
    Governor Barnes told a story about Hank Aaron appearing with him. I 
want to tell you a story that's even more compelling. In 1992, on the 
weekend before the Presidential election, I was struggling to prevail in 
Georgia and Governor Miller said, ``You have to come one more time. And 
if you come, I think Hank Aaron will appear with you.''
    I forgot about how many electoral votes we had--I forgot, you know, 
I just--so I came. And we went out to this high school football stadium, 
which held 25,000 people--it was completely full. Way over half of them 
came to see him. [Laughter] Three days later, after Hank Aaron blessed 
me in front of 25,000 people, we carried Georgia by 13,000 votes. 
[Laughter] I have never forgotten it, and I never will.
    Ladies and gentlemen, the essayist Jacques Barzun once wrote, 
``Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn 
baseball.'' Well, probably more than any other sport, baseball revels in 
statistics. I wish we could have a contest tonight. We'd all know that 
Ty Cobb has the highest lifetime batting average and Cy Young the most 
wins; Mark McGwire, closely followed by Sammy Sosa, the most home runs 
in a single season. Most all of us here know that Henry Aaron has more 
baseball records than any other single player: most RBI's, most extra 
base hits, the only player to hit at least 30 home runs in 15 seasons, 
at least 20 homers in 20 seasons. First, as you heard on the film, to 
reach 300 hits--3,000 hits and 500 home runs.
    He also had an exquisite sense of timing. When he broke what 
appeared to be the most unbreakable record of all, he had the presence 
of mind to do it on opening night so all of us could plan to watch. 
Because Henry Aaron's story is so much the story of baseball and because 
it is the story of a changing America being manifest in baseball, 
knowing it is necessary to know the mind and heart of modern America.
    All of us honor him tonight not only for the power of his swing but 
for the power of his spirit; not only for breaking records but for 
breaking barriers; not only for chasing his dream but even more for 
giving children, like those we saw tonight, the chance to chase theirs. 
From Mobile to Milwaukee to Atlanta, through a segregated South in the 
old Sally League where he was the only member of the team that didn't 
stay in the same motel, the only one who couldn't get served at the 
dinner counter, he moved through a changing America. And he changed the 
mind and heart of America.
    When he came here, he had an interesting experience. Many of you 
have referenced tonight that when Hank Aaron approached Babe Ruth's 
record there was a dark, deep undercurrent which led him to get lots of 
hate letters and death threats so serious the FBI had to watch his home 
and the pall of violence began to hang over the games. But he said that 
very little of this mail came from Atlanta. And so as President of this 
whole country, I'd like to also take my hat off to Atlanta tonight.
    When Andy Young was up here talking and then I saw the reference on 
the film by Mayor Allen, I remember as a boy growing up, burdened with 
the awful stain that the

[[Page 212]]

crisis in the high school in my State's capital caused us, that every 
one of us who felt as I did envied Atlanta because it had a mayor and 
business leaders who said they were determined to be known as the city 
too busy to hate. And they gave us, all of us, Martin Luther King and 
John Lewis, and leaders like Andy Young and Maynard Jackson and so many 
more, too many to mention. It was fitting that a son of the South who 
braved the storms of segregation would come home to the most important 
baseball record of all and go indelibly into the mind and heart of 
America.
    I came here tonight as a baseball fan, to remember a golden moment. 
I came as a friend, to thank a person who was there for me when I needed 
him in the worst way. I came here as President, to honor a great 
American--for courage and decency and dignity, for caring about all the 
kids coming along behind him, for giving them a chance to chase those 
dreams. America is a land of dreamers. Hank Aaron has made it even more 
so.
    So Hank and Billye, we thank you for the path you blazed, for the 
voices you raised, for the helping hands you gave. We thank you. God 
bless you. [Applause] Thank you.
    Now, don't sit down. I almost forgot my exit line. [Laughter] Ladies 
and gentlemen, our honoree, on the 25th anniversary of his 40th birthday 
and his 715th home run, Henry Aaron.

Note: The President spoke at 10:40 p.m. in the Centennial Ballroom at 
the Hyatt Regency Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to W. Thomas 
Johnson, chairman, president, and chief executive officer, Cable News 
Network; Ted Turner, vice chairman, and Gerald M. Levin, chairman and 
chief executive officer, Time Warner, Inc.; Gov. Roy E. Barnes and 
former Gov. Zell Miller of Georgia; Mayor Bill Campbell and former 
Mayors Andrew Young, Ivan Allen Jr., and Maynard Jackson of Atlanta; Mr. 
Aaron's wife, Billye; and Mr. Turner's wife, actress Jane Fonda. The 
President also referred to the South Atlantic (Sally) League. This item 
was not received in time for publication in the appropriate issue.